3.28.2005

Oxy Morons, Part Deux

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) Director Greg Lukianoff sends an update on the Occidental case, in particular addressing poor coverage of the story by the L.A. Times:

The article does not address the actual substance of the sexual harassment claims that led to Antebi’s firing (two of the claims were from Jason’s student government rivals and the crux of their claim was that Jason had called one a “douche” and the other a “bearded feminist”); it does not mention that he was fired over the objections of the student management of the station (I will be writing about this soon); it does not mention the dissolution of the student government (which, despite Oxy’s claims to the contrary, was obviously related to the Antebi incident); it does not mention the subsequent revelation from FIRE that Oxy had relied on baseless and inaccurate allegations (including allegations of serious criminal conduct) against its students in order to justify its actions after the fact; it does not mention the absurd situation in which the General Counsel of the college essentially said the ACLU of Southern California did not know ACLU policy; it does not mention that there is still no student government; and so on and so on.
Lukianoff argues that the case has importance far beyond the political discrimination I pointed to in my first post on the subject. This appears to be a serious abuse of power by the administration involving serious ethical lapses and a real violation of Antebi's rights. I had some run-ins with petty tyrants at my university on a much smaller scale, and I share Lukianoff's outrage.

Those who support freedom of speech on campus can donate to FIRE here.

2 comments:

Josh said...

Gee, you don't SOUND like a "radical libertarian"--you seem more like a regular, garden-variety conservative wackjob. Don't flatter yourself, son.

W.C. Varones said...

Josh-

Thanks for your comments. I disagree with your conclusion that defending free speech on campus makes one a "garden-variety conservative wackjob." Nevertheless, I enjoyed your blog:

http://dumbocracy.blogspot.com/

Regards,

W.C. Varones

Happy Super Tuesday!